


Good Strategy

by autobotscoutriella



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Explosions, Gen, Minor Character Death, No happy ending here, from the perspective of the character on the receiving end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 21:25:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17774468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autobotscoutriella/pseuds/autobotscoutriella
Summary: Equinox is sure his scout unit hasn't been spotted.





	Good Strategy

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [FandomWeekly](https://fandomweekly.dreamwidth.org/191528.html) challenge "Unexpected Company".

_Storms, why'd it have to be storms?_

Equinox looked up at the swirling clouds overhead, gritting his teeth against the string of curses that threatened to escape. The one time, the _one time_ he needed to be able to send an urgent long-range comm back to base to get the information to Command _now_ , damn stealth and everything that went with it, an ion storm had to roll in and shut down the systems to the point of uselessness. _Of course_. It had been going so well up to that point, in and out, no one spotting them, nothing to compromise the mission, and now this.

::Move. _Move_!:: There was little point shouting over comm line at the tiny scout unit, all of whom were already no doubt redlining their engines, but  it felt like doing _something_. Anything. The Autobots needed to know about the Decepticon reorganization of their lines immediately—sooner than immediately. If they didn't find out, the next attack would crush the Autobots' southern line of defense and let the 'Cons push all the way up into Ky-Alexa. It was good strategy on their part, he had to admit, but it would not work. He wouldn't let it. 

Over the rush of wind, Equinox couldn't tell if the faint hum was from the ion storm or from the engine of one of his scouts or just the sound of fuel rushing through his own primary lines. Nothing pinged on the radar, and he couldn't spare the time to look—any Decepticon following them would have to _catch_ them first. No one could sneak up on them on the ground, and from the sky, well, a mech would have to be insane to fly in an ion storm.

_Just make it back. That's all we have to do, just make it back. Make it back with the information._

There was still no one on the radar—they couldn’t have been spotted, not with how quickly they’d been in and out. It was a long run back to the Ky-Alexa base, but they could make it. They had to make it.

The hum returned, just for a second, and then faded out. That was all he needed, his audials going funny on a mission _this_ critical. But he couldn't worry about—

_BOOM._

The world turned white and black and blue. Something _slammed_ into him with the force of half a dozen explosions at once, snapping cables and struts and plating and hurling him into the air like a piece of shrapnel in a hurricane.

Equinox didn't remember hitting the ground.

He didn't feel the _snap_ as his spine broke in three places.

His optics onlined to a static-torn world flipped on its side, parts of it blocked by flashing warnings in his HUD and smears of dark blue and swirling smoke.

 _What_...

That was Starstorm in front of him, her purple plating weirdly twisted and dull and her optics staring blankly past his head.   _Get up_ , he wanted to scream at her. _Run. You were always the fastest of us. Go. Go._

But he couldn't get the words out.

There, off to the side, little Heatblade. He shouldn't have been gray. He was too bright to fade out like that. Bright orange shouldn't fade to gunmetal gray.

He could taste energon, see stars sparking behind his optics, and he still didn't know what had hit him.

A heavy weight landed in the center of the crater blasted deep into the ground, a shape Equinox thought he should have recognized. He didn't until it turned and the distinctive rotors shifted back.

"...B...lack...out."

He didn't recognize his own voice. It was like listening to a poor-quality recording from a million years ago.

"What, I'm not who you were expecting?" The Decepticon loomed over him, red optics a bright burning spot in the swirl of color and noise and pain his world had become. "They never look up. Huh, _grounders_."

A massive clawed foot poked Equinox in the side, and his world exploded into shattering agony. He wasn't sure if the faint sound that reached his broken audials was his own scream, or the crackle of the ion storm in the distance.

He could taste more energon, hot in his mouth. That was bad.

He should have expected this. Should have _known_. Some Decepticons could fly in storms. How had he not seen this coming...?

Blackout turned away, and for a moment, Equinox hoped. Maybe he could ride out the storm. Try to get one final comm off. It would be late, but better late than never...

Something detached from the Decepticon's spine, under the rotors. Mesmerized, he watched the scorponoid drone skitter toward him, the razor-sharp tail sweeping up.

It only registered as dangerous when it was too close to dodge, even if he could have moved.

 _Oh_.

Of _course_ he wouldn't leave any survivors. That was good strategy too.

The last thing he heard was Blackout muttering something about grounders and Starscream and a waste of energy.

Then the pain stopped.

**Author's Note:**

> According to the ROTF movie guide, Blackout spent part of the war as the one responsible for destabilizing the Autobot front lines and was _not_ happy about it. It made for an interesting setup.


End file.
